Information
by Amarissia
Summary: An unpleasant memory from Zack's past resurfaces in the worries of Cloud, and it seems Sephiroth needs reassurance too. Part of the Decorum series.


_Okay, yes, I'm supposed to be sticking to the how-Seph-and-Zack-happened arc, but TheStaci put a plot bunny in my head, and there was an opportunity for sweetness and smut, and I couldn't resist. Also, anything that might prompt more omigod-must-have-it fun from her, because I could live on that stuff. If you haven't read her "Deeper Understanding", stop and go do that now, and you'll see what I mean._

_Also, I am posting this earlier than intended, because despite my wish to pace myself, I have no willpower. Don't worry. As long as my typing fingers work, the ideas just keep coming._

_M for smutiness and mush and general me-ness. I own nothing but a desperate hope that the Great Nomura will give us that FFVII remake we want._

**INFORMATION**

2nd Class apartments were smaller than the 1st Class ones, so these walls and rooms were not yet the ones that twenty-year-old Zack would occupy. The touches of purple here and there, the stuffed black dog on the bed, the trademark mess - these things were classic Zack Fair, though, and they were here. And Zack himself didn't look much different at eighteen, though maybe a bit smaller. His spiky black hair still hung around his face...the face, that was what was strange. Zack's expression was confused, and not just from his usual distracted dopeyness.

"Did you..." he began, slurring the words, "I feel...something's..."

"Relax, babe," the other man said, offering a smile smug enough to match his 1st Class uniform. "I just put a little something in the wine to help you unwind."

Zack's hazy blue eyes cleared just for a moment, long enough to stare with frozen, horrified disbelief. He made for the apartment's front door, but whatever he had been slipped made his movements sluggish, and the 1st caught him easily, grabbed him under one arm and hauled him to the bedroom. Zack hollared and fought, but he was getting weaker and weaker, and the 1st didn't seem concerned about the noise.

"What's the matter, little puppy?" he taunted when the shouting turned to crying. "You want Angeal? You want to tell him I'm _rushing_ you?"

It would've broken anyone's heart to see a shattered expression in place of Zack's usual beaming smile, to see tears brightening his pale eyes, to hear the whimpers he was making. The 1st easily handled his pathetically struggling limbs as he tore the uniform off them. He then held himself above the teenager and looked at him hungrily and appreciatively. Settling on his knees above Zack, he made a cooing sound and began to stroke from the boy's hair down his drenched cheeks.

"Does the puppy like to be pet?" he said in a sickly-sweet voice. "Don't be afraid, little puppy, I'll take care of you."

"Fuck you," Zack whispered, defiant even though the words trembled as he did.

"No, my sweet little puppy," the 1st said softly, undoing his own pants and shoving them down. "I'm going to fuck _you_."

Zack began to scream again, for Angeal, for Sephiroth, sometimes in cries that were not in any language but pain. His voice took on a hollow quality as the assailant entered him, stretching as he was being stretched, becoming empty of hope as he was becoming full of unwanted flesh. The 1st groaned with pleasure, moving slowly to savor the taking of what he had coveted, but Zack's sobs laid bare the full horror of this. The anguish, the violation, the tearing inside and the blood from it that provided a tiny bit of lubrication.

"It's mine now," the 1st Class hissed, "Sephiroth will never have this. You'll never be his or anyone else's, you're mine."

Zack closed his eyes and wailed, the healthy color gone now from his skin to leave him ghost-white, like the life was leaving him, like he was dying. The 1st went harder and harder, red stained the sheets beneath them and spread like a rose opening its petals. Another voice was wailing now, and everything was shaking -

_zcszcszcs_

Zack woke instantly out of a dreamless sleep when he heard the screaming. It was right beside him, it wasn't Sephiroth...SOLDIER reflexes whipped him around to yank the blanket off Cloud and look him over for injury. Realizing it was only a nightmare didn't stop his heart from pounding. Even unconscious, Cloud was crying and the screaming was hysterical, like he was being killed. Zack grabbed the narrow shoulders and shook, very gently first, then harder.

"Cloud! Spiky! It's okay, wake up! SPIKY!"

The eyes he loved flew open, little summer skies staring from beneath sad puddles, and they looked blankly for a moment before recognition filled them. Cloud stopped screaming, his open mouth worked uselessly, and Zack smiled with relief and cupped his cheek with one hand.

"It's okay, baby. Just a bad dream."

Zack was forever bragging about Cloud's speed, but this time it really took him by surprise. Before he could form another word or thought, he was thrown back to a sitting position and Cloud was holding on to him tighter than he ever had before. Stunned, Zack needed a moment to comprehend what was different. Cloud wasn't snuggling into the warm, safe cocoon of his arms as he usually did. He was hugging Zack like someone might come and take him away, trying to protect and hide the way Zack did for him, despite the fact that he was smaller. Normally the young 1st would be touched to see such a fearless display of love from Cloud, but right now, he was concerned.

"Spiky? Baby? What's wrong? You can death-grip me as long as you want, but I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

"Y-Y-You're okay?" Cloud stammered, every syllable striking Zack's heart.

"I'm fine, honey, just worried 'bout my favorite little chocobo." Cloud's small arms began to relax, and Zack carefully drew back enough to slip an arm around him and observe his white, wet face. "You were having a nightmare, Spiky. It's all over, you're with me."

The terror crumbled out of the boy's expression, and he grabbed Zack again and pressed his face to the 'Mako Happens' T-shirt the 1st was so fond of wearing to bed. This was a position the two of them were more familiar with, Cloud being the one who needed comfort or assurance. Zack placed slow kisses into the bed-mussed blond hair and rubbed his palm up and down along the length of the boy's spine. Distraction could be good for Cloud right now, but Zack wouldn't start anything, not until he knew the nature of the dream. Cloud had admitted to he and Sephiroth that men had touched him a little, brief gropes from overfriendly or drunk strangers, several times before he'd met them, but sworn up and down it never went further than that.

Zack's stomach twisted. He trusted Cloud, the kid was honest, but could he have been holding something back that was now invading his sleep? Someone would bleed for it if he was.

Zack rocked him until the sobbing tapered off into crying, then murmured "All right, baby, I've got you" and brought Cloud to lay beside him, blond head tucked under his chin and both hands gripping his shirt. A shaking hand, smaller than his own, went to the back of his neck, then moved north. Cloud was running his fingers through the soft hair that was so like his own, only rich black instead of bright blond. The boy had always thought Zack's combination of dark hair and pale eyes was magical, even as beautiful as Sephiroth.

A few minutes passed as Cloud calmed and became still. The cadet hoped Zack would assume he had fallen asleep again, but Zack was hard to fool about that sort of thing. Sure enough, the 1st edged back just a little, and tilted Cloud's face up to wipe it with a tissue. The warmth and adoration in his eyes made Cloud begin to cry again, but he smiled weakly and whispered "I'm okay."

"You want tea, water, anything?"

"No, thanks."

"Pizza? The guys at Palace will stoke up the ovens if I ask nicely. I think half their orders come from me."

As hoped for, Cloud laughed. Softly, but still a lovely sound. Zack moved in to kiss his forehead, and the blond tilted his face up to offer his lips instead. Another good sign. Zack made the kiss slow, but kept it dry and chaste. When they broke apart, Cloud grabbed one of his hands, and ran the other hand up and down Zack's side. He still looked uncertain, like the dream was not yet behind him.

"What was it about?" Zack murmured.

Cloud's eyes dropped, then closed with a shudder.

"I know, Spiky, but it's better to talk about it. Get it out, ya know?"

"Zack..." The summer skies blinked open, heavy with rain again. "Y-You wouldn't ever...lie to me. Right?"

"Of course not." All traces of sleep had left Zack's face, making way for a grimmer and more thoughtful expression than he usually wore. "Did you lie to _me_ about something? You can tell me, I promise I won't be upset."

Cloud looked at him with confusion, which made Zack sigh in relief, which in turn confused Cloud further. If it was what Zack had feared, the reaction would have been discomfort or guilt, not this puzzlement. Reassured, he pressed his lips to Cloud's forehead and waited as the boy groped for the right words.

"What if...would you lie to protect me from something? Or would you tell me the truth even if it's something t-terrible?"

Zack exhaled slowly, delaying the answer that he sensed Cloud wouldn't like. "I'm not sure, Spiky. I would have to have a really good reason."

"Seph wasn't your first," Cloud said abruptly, as though he wanted to say this and expel it from himself as quickly as possible.

"...no. He wasn't. What's going on in that head of yours?"

"You said it wasn't...bad, but I dreamed...I saw..."

Cloud's face was scrunching up again, the way it did when he was trying not to cry. Zack gaped at him for a moment, trying to be sure what he was being told, and pulled Cloud to him, enclosing the boy in his ams where he could hide him, caress him, cuddle him, kiss him, whisper to him. He seemed to be trying to do all of these at once.

"You dreamed I was being - oh, Gaia, baby, no, it wasn't - ssh, it's okay. I'm sorry, baby. I didn't lie, I'm sorry you thought - it's okay, I'm here."

There was no sound of crying, Cloud wasn't making any noise at all, but his shoulders were shaking. He was clinging, and now Zack understood why Cloud was trying to hold him. Why had he dreamed something so horrible? A memory entered Zack's mind. He grabbed it, analyzed it, smiled and winced at the dual assault of happiness and pain.

"Hey, Spiky, you know those mythril mines down south?"

Relaxing, maybe caught off guard by the odd question, Cloud nodded.

"When I was a 3rd, Angeal and I went on a mission there to clean out a nest of Madouges. We had to cross these marshes to get there, and that night at the campfire, I nagged Angeal to tell me a story. He pretended to be grumpy with me, but he wasn't really. He could never stay like that for long, not around me. Anyway, he started to tell me about a huge, dangerous snake that lived in the marshes. A Zolom, I think he called it. Don't laugh, but I started to get kinda scared, so I pretended to fall asleep. He laughed, said 'Good night, Puppy' and ruffled my hair. I really miss that.

"So anyway, that night I dreamed Angeal was on the other side of the marshes, and when I tried to follow him, the Zolom attacked me. Angeal heard me screaming and woke me up. He made me tell him what the nightmare was about, he wouldn't let it go, and when I was done he just said, 'The Zolom existed once, but it was slain long ago. I would not have brought you here if you would not be safe.' And when I knew the truth, I felt better."

Cloud's grip had slackened just a little. He looked up at Zack timidly, waiting. Zack cupped his face in both hands.

"It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad. At least not the way you've been fearing. Honestly, baby."

"You weren't...hurt?"

"It did hurt," Zack admitted, "because he went too fast. He didn't mean that. And I wasn't prepared very well. That's all."

"Is that why you're careful with me?" Cloud whispered.

"And 'cause I love ya."

Cloud smiled, and put his hands over Zack's. "How did it end?"

Seeing how calmed Cloud was by the truth, Zack saw no choice but full disclosure. He explained the bet his fellow 2nds had had going about who could bed Commander Hewley's puppy first, and Lt. Matheson describing to them his success, up to and including Sephiroth's fury and Matheson's transfer. Cloud frowned angrily at times, his eyes widened, and at last he smiled again.

"Did you and Seph get together right then?"

"Nah. It was a few months later." Zack laughed. "But I admit, I did think for a second that he seemed jealous."

"Did you really think he was gonna kill the guy?"

"For a second."

"I wouldn't blame him," Cloud muttered darkly.

Zack was surprised. Cloud was probably the least bloodthirsty guy he knew, he didn't even like killing insects. "Let me show ya something," the SOLDIER said, leaping lightly out of the large bed. It took a few minutes of shuffling through messy drawers, but at last he made a cry of triumph and flopped back down on the mattress. He held out an unfolded sheet of plain white paper, and Cloud looked at it quizzically.

"What is it?"

"A letter I got months ago. Read it."

**Dear Zack,**

**I don't deserve to even call you that. Don't worry, I won't even attempt "babe".**

**I know you probably don't want to hear from me or think about me at all, but I've started this letter a thousand times already, and I'm afraid that if I don't send it, I'll be writing it forever. I'm so sorry, Zack. For everything. It was wrong of me to rush you into sex, stupid of me to brag about it to those 2nds, and cowardly of me to panic when I thought you'd tell Commander Hewley. I should have known better. I shouldn't have grabbed you or threatened you. I hate myself for that. You don't have to believe me, but it's true.**

**I've been doing well here in Wutai. I like the people, the language, the customs. I started seeing someone a few months ago, a native, and we're starting to get serious. I heard about you and Sephiroth, too. People must have been surprised, but I'm not. I saw into his eyes that day. I saw you in them. I'm happy for you. No shame to lose someone to Sephiroth, either.**

**I guess the last thing is to say I'm sorry about Commander Hewley. I know how much you loved him, and he you. When he threatened me, after we started dating, and I swore not to hurt you and he relaxed a little, I took a chance and joked, "Anyone would think Zack's your kid." He stared me down seriously, without blinking, and said "He **_**is**_**."**

**Right, one more thing. Your namesake and my partner's dog are proud parents of a new litter. I hope you don't mind that I named one of the pups Angeal. I just couldn't resist the irony.**

**Take care, Zack. Be happy. You deserve it.**

** Cmmdr. Dean Matheson  
****SOLDIER Division 5  
****Kitano Base, Wutai**

Cloud stared at the paper for a few seconds after he finished, feeling a flash of guilt to realize that its author was not a monster but a mere, flawed human being. He took note of the way Zack accepted the letter back carefully and placed it on the nightstand like it was a possession he valued. Cloud looked into Zack's eyes as they beamed affectionate light on him, eyes he loved and was often mesmerized by. This Matheson must have loved them too, and been enchanted by Zack's charm and playfulness. What must it be like to love Zack and not be loved back? That was a pain Cloud had never known.

"I feel bad for him."

Zack seemed relieved. "I think he's where he belongs at last. Just like you and me and Seph."

"Did you write back?"

"Uh-huh. I told him I forgave him, I hope he's happy, and I hope the puppy they named Angeal is really bouncy and easily distracted. You know, for the irony."

Smiling, Cloud looped an arm around Zack's neck and drew him in for a kiss. Zack broke it, regretfully, to say "I'm sorry about your bad dream, Spiky. And that I didn't tell you this stuff earlier."

"It's okay. I could have just asked, huh?"

"Of course. I'm yours, baby. That includes all my secrets."

"I'm yours too." Cloud tugged Zack a little, laying on his back to indicate he wanted Zack on top of him. "I want to be yours always."

"Then you will be."

The tension was gone, released into the cool night air and the heat of their bodies pressing together. Cloud pulled Zack's shirt off and lifted up so the same could be done to him. Cloud still had a cute shyness about his own nudity, but the pleasure he felt with Zack and Sephiroth gave him a bit of boldness and eagerness to make up for it. They both managed to shrug off their boxers, and Zack looked down at the delicate white and gold and sapphire blue of Cloud and felt awed that he was allowed to touch something so flawless. Cloud had been a new thing for him, the only one who'd ever made Zack want to be dominant, but it was natural, easy. Right.

Zack slowly rocked his hips into Cloud's, pressing their needs together, cupping the younger's tight little balls as he leaned down and kissed a pale, exposed neck. "Inside," the cadet whispered to him, and he could hear the faint blush in the courageous word. "Please, inside."

An off-balance scramble for the lubricant nearly made Zack fall off the bed, and Cloud laughed. In training and battle, Zack was graceful as a dancer, hardly touching the ground. Everywhere else, it was a miracle he didn't run face first into walls.

Zack coated his fingers with the expensive, fragrant oil, then poured it generously over both erections. Cloud's breath caught in his throat as Zack's hand, glistening as they were glistening, began to slick and stretch him. The boy had new appreciation for the time and care Zack took to do this properly, though the waiting was sometimes almost torture. But it felt so good, making his whole slight frame thrum like a guitar string being plucked. And it got even better, it was always rapture with Zack. With both of them.

"Ready, baby?"

In response, Cloud locked his legs around Zack and tried to push upward to meet him. The 1st sank into him slowly, the only pain one of stretching that was quickly swallowed by pleasure. As the prostate was brushed, the two young men stretched together like a single muscle untensing. Once he was all the way in and they were locked together, Zack began the rhythm of thrusting and Cloud took himself in hand. This part of him, like all the others, gloried in having Zack so close, so intimately, but the slick flesh nearly slipped away from him. Maybe it knew better than Cloud did that it was best when they came together. Slowly, then, he kneaded it slowly, stopping now and then to finger the balls that were high and heavy with anticipation.

"Zack, Zack..." No other words were getting past the fog in his brain, so Cloud smiled, open-mouthed through his cries and moans.

"Oh Cloud, you feel so good...so good, baby," Zack gasped, speeding up a little to match the urgency that their eyes were mirroring to one another and knowing Cloud would do the same.

Cloud's blunt little fingernails clawed at his back, making Zack hiss and attempt a harder, deeper thrust. He watched and listened to Cloud for signs of pain, but the boy only moaned and began to stroke himself faster. As Zack lowered himself to rub the slick erection with his stomach, Cloud came, shooting wetness and heat onto the warm skin. Zack followed him immediately, returning to a slower and more shallow rhythm to fill the tight darkness in Cloud with the inner light he was feeling.

The cadet sighed with tired happiness as Zack's weight lay atop him and lips pressed the racing pulse in his neck. They stayed like that for a few moments, then Cloud found himself on his side and Zack curling up with him. Their bodies and hearts sated, the two young men cuddled in the afterglow. The comforting scent of each soothed the other into a relieved sleep.

_zcszcszcs_

Zack woke with an immediate feeling of annoyance, which was not usual for him. Someone had ripped the blanket off him and was touching him. The cool hands were ones he knew, so that was all right, but what were they doing here, and why were they checking him for injuries? Zack rolled away from the sleeping form of Cloud, who had become completely hidden under the purple comforter, and made a startled noise as he was yanked from the bed's warmth into the cool embrace of a leather coat.

"Seph?" he murmured, shifting to try to see his face. Zack didn't like being held like this, with his feet dangling above the floor. It always felt like a teasing reminder of his shorter height.

Finally, Sephiroth set him down and drew back a little, and the worry fading from his face appeared on Zack's.

"What's wrong? Why are you back early? Are you - "

"I am fine," the general said, letting his jacket be pushed off so he could get his bare arms around Zack. "The mission will not require my presence again until tomorrow. I caught a private flight back."

"This late?"

"Turks."

"Just so you could pull me out of my comfy bed?" Zack joked. "And they say _Reno_ is sex-crazed."

"I had a bad feeling," Sephiroth admitted.

They weren't sure why Sephiroth was sometimes able to sense when something was wrong with Zack. The more serious the problem, the stronger the feeling. Though it wasn't an exact science. Zack still occasionally teased the general about the time he'd burst into the gym and pushed his way to Zack's side in a panic, only to find him complaining about a splinter from a practice staff. Sephiroth postulated that it may have to do with his uniquely high mako level, but they probably would never know for certain. He wasn't about to ask Hojo.

"How bad?"

"I don't know. It felt different, unlike the other times, and that worried me."

To his surprise, Zack smiled. "Was it around twelve?"

"Yes. How did you - "

Zack broke away and lifted up the blanket to reveal Cloud. The way the cadet was laying, curled up with one cheek pressed into a chocobo-patterned pillowcase, made Sephiroth smile. He liked to watch Cloud sleep, listening to the soft sounds he made while shifting position and wondering what dreams were going on beneath the disheveled blond spikes.

"He had a nightmare. Maybe that's what you felt."

Sephiroth's pleasure at the idea of being able to sense Cloud was overtaken by concern. "Is he all right?"

"Yeah, he is now. Scared the crap out of me, though. I never heard him yell like that before."

"What was it about?"

Zack frowned and ran a hand through his spikes.

"Zack?"

"Me. Being raped. I told him around his birthday that my first time wasn't with you and it wasn't all that great, and I guess he was worried it might have been worse than that and I was lying to protect him. So we talked and I explained more and he's good now. Seph, I know that expression, and if you ask, I'll kill you. What, do I just strike everyone as rape-able or something?"

Zack stopped babbling and nudged Sephiroth, trying to get that dark look out of his eyes. Could he still be angry at Matheson after all this time? Or was it something else?

"Seph, are you upset that you weren't my first?"

"I feel a resentment about it now and then," the general said truthfully, because he knew Zack liked honesty. "But it is directed toward him, not you. I don't like the thought of anyone touching you but myself and Cloud."

"I know, I feel the same about you." Zack put his arms around Sephiroth and helped him undo his belts. "I wasn't your first either."

"No."

"When are you gonna tell me about that?"

"One day." Sephiroth's hands moved up and down over the younger's bare back, descending to brush over the curve of his behind. "You told me everything. Matheson did not hurt you, or..."

Sephiroth spoke these as statements, but Zack knew they were questions. He reached behind him, groped along the nightstand for the letter and handed it over. He was pulled closer by a strong encircling arm and lay his ear against a muscular chest and a steady heartbeat while Sephiroth held the letter with his other hand and silently read it. Zack knew when he was finished by the thoughtful "Hmm" sound, the other arm wrapping him, and Sephiroth kissing from his temple down to his neck.

"Very well," he said, and that was all Zack needed. He couldn't resist a little teasing, though.

"No killing? I don't have to send word to Kitano Base for Matheson to lay low anymore every time you visit Wutai?"

"No," Sephiroth said grudgingly, lifting Zack up off the floor again to see his petulant, adorable scowl.

"I had to do that with Angeal, too."

"Angeal would be happy that you're still being overprotected."

"He'd also remind you that I don't like being picked up. Put me down, General, this is no way to treat a devoted SOLDIER."

"Where would you like to be put down, then, SOLDIER?" All traces of darkness had cleared from Sephiroth's eyes. Their silver was now bright with a mischief that Zack proudly took credit for.

"Anywhere you'd like me to sit, General, of course," Zack purred.

"We'll have to be quiet. We shouldn't disturb Cloud."

"Don't hold back on my account," a light voice said from the tangle of sheets and blankets. They looked to find Cloud blinking at them innocently. "Hi, Seph. I thought you wouldn't be home till Friday."

The general bent down to kiss him. "I have to go back in the evening."

"But not yet," Zack said cheerfully. "And now that Spiky's awake, it wouldn't be fair of us to leave him out."

"It's okay," Cloud said.

"I've got an idea!"

Pale eyes bright with glee, Zack flopped down on his back onto the bed and pulled a startled Cloud on top of him. The blond squirmed and weakly protested, afraid he was about to be tickled, but Zack merely looped his arms around Cloud and rested his hands on his stomach. Sephiroth's half-erection sprang to full, urgent attention at the sight of the two beautiful bodies, nude, one on top of the other.

"Can we do it this way, Seph?"

"I think we should at least make the attempt," the general answered gravely.

"Spiky, you ready for more?" Zack murmured into his ear.

Cloud punctuated his usual answer ("Duh") with a strategic wiggle of his behind. Sephiroth retrieved the lubricant from the floor where it had earlier fallen and brought it back, gracefully removing his pants at the same time. He slicked Zack's fingers and his own with the warm oil, and easily lifted both his young lovers to get a pillow under Zack to allow easier access. Sephiroth began to prepare Zack as Zack worked on stretching Cloud. However odd or difficult this new position might be, the general loved it already, because he could see both of them, watch both faces at once as they reflected happiness and pleasure.

Cloud's fair little hands were free, and they reached up to him, one twining in the hair the boy loved and the other touching the exquisite face above him. Sephiroth turned into the caress, kissing Cloud's palm and then his fingers, one by one. He shook out his luminescent hair so that it fell around them all like a silver curtain. Cloud, especially, loved this, it made him feel like they were only people on the planet.

"Ready, baby?" Zack whispered. Cloud nodded emphatically. "Okay, relax..."

Sephiroth paused his own work to help Zack adjust the cadet, lifting him up a little and slowly easing him down onto the waiting and oiled erection. Cloud, still a bit stretched from before, felt only the slightest discomfort, nothing compared to the joy of being filled. He couldn't help but let his eyes flutter shut as it was guided all the way in, but then he lay his head back on Zack's shoulder and looked to smile at both of them. Sephiroth lovingly stroked their faces with his clean hand, Cloud's, then Zack's.

"Mine," he said aloud, in such a decisive and childish voice that Cloud smirked and Zack laughed.

"You know it, General. Now, if you don't mind, I'm feeling kinda empty here. Anything you can do about that?"

"I believe so," Sephiroth said smugly. Much as he loved Zack's teasing and good-natured manner, he also loved the wanton and moaning side he could bring out of the young man.

Their combined weight was nothing to Sephiroth, it was no effort to push their tangle of legs up in order to position himself. But clearly it affected Zack and Cloud, who groaned together as Cloud was inadvertently moved further onto Zack's cock. And again, as Sephiroth smoothly entered, Zack's hips thrust up instinctively to meet him, and Cloud cried out as his prostate was pressed. He must have clenched in response, which obviously pleased Zack, who sighed with pleasure and bit lightly at Cloud's neck, careful not to mark him. Sephiroth's hand touched the soft skin of the blond's stomach, where it met one of Zack's.

"This is an excellent opportunity for a lesson in causality."

"How can you...be thinking of science...at a time like this?" Zack panted, his eyes glazed and dreamy. In his current position, he was proud of himself that he had enough focus to produce words.

"The concept is as much philosophical as it is scientific," Sephiroth went on, and Zack groaned.

"What is it?" Cloud moaned softly, looking up with wide blue eyes that needed no mako to shine.

"Gah, don't encourage him!"

"Simply put, effect follows cause. The event of the effect must derive from and occur at a later time than the event of the cause. And without the cause, no effect."

"That's it," Zack grumbled. "No more books. Only TV for you from now on."

"I have a demonstration you will enjoy," Sephiroth promised. "Don't move, unless I tell you to. Cloud, you will be our cause."

"Me?" the blond said, offering a trusting smile.

"Yes, you."

Sephiroth took Zack's hand and brought it between Cloud's legs, so they could gently stroke him together. The cadet was smaller than them both, small even for a SOLDIER candidate of his age, and Sephiroth sometimes wondered if it was immoral to like this about Cloud. His youth, his softness, his innocence of the bloody world that SOLDIERs lived in, the petite frame that was so easy to hide in his arms or behind his hair and pick up. But he loved everything about Cloud, the maturity as well as the sweetness. And it's not as though the boy didn't love being held. He scolded Zack when he picked him up but, strangely, he never minded when Sephiroth did.

Cloud was breathing heavily as his hardness was fondled by two familiar hands which moved as though in a memorized dance, switching back and forth easily over the balls, shaft and head. As Cloud continued to clench, Zack was reaping the benefits, and his expression made clear his enjoyment of the tightening around him. Zack's growing restlessness and arousal were felt by Sephiroth, who had to force himself not to thrust into the constricting passage he occupied.

"You see," he said calmly, over Cloud's increasingly louder cries, "do you feel that? The cause of his pleasure affects us both."

Zack grinned irresistably. "And if I ask you very nicely, will that _cause_ you to fuck me until I can't see straight, please?"

"You need not ask." Bending to give him a long, deep kiss, Sephiroth drew his hips back and slammed them forward.

His hard thrust set off a chain reaction that filled the room with shouts of ecstasy. Zack locked a steadying arm around Cloud's waist and began his own rhythm, filling him and continually triggering that spot that made Cloud moan with need and push downward to meet him. The boy wasn't sure whose hands were jerking him now (one might even have been his own) but they were fast, merciless, wanting him to let go although he didn't want this to be over, ever.

"More, more!" Zack begged, feeling almost crazed with the double pleasure of filling and being filled. "Fuck me, Seph, harder!"

Careful not to get carried away and give more than Zack could take, Sephiroth pounded him as he had during only their quickest and most frenzied joinings. (Fitting, because these were usually when they reunited after work and distance had briefly separated them.) As hoped for, Zack could no longer speak coherently and was only emitting groans and choked gasps and obscenities that lost their vulgarity on his lovely, petal-soft lips. As for Cloud...Sephiroth was still amazed by how beautifully sexual something so pure could be, the way he writhed and cried out without restraint and stretched himself like a blooming flower, rather than shrinking back timidly as he tended to do in public.

Sephiroth wanted to finish last, to watch them first. He took a deep, steady breath and held it, and closed his hand tighter around Cloud, manipulated him with the motions that prompted the loudest cries. With one approaching a scream, Cloud's eyes squeezed shut and his back arched like a bowstring. Like the falling of a row of dominos, just as Sephiroth's stomach was being soaked with the whitish spray, Zack made a sound he recognized, one of intense pleasure, vulnerability and perhaps every other good emotion as well. Cloud breathed a contented "Mmm" as he was filled. Sephiroth felt the vibration of this, rather than heard it beneath their rapturous cries, and then his own were joining them. With a few last hard thrusts, the rush came, blinding white glared at the edges of his vision, and in moments such as these, there was no sadness, no loneliness, no fear, no loss, no dead Angeal and Genesis, no abandonment by Gast. There had never been a Hojo.

Giving himself a few moments to recover, Sephiroth somehow managed to rotate their still-joined jumble of bodies so they could lay on their sides on the welcome bed, Cloud between them. The blond was murmuring to both of them that he loved them and asleep moments after Zack and Sephiroth carefully withdrew. It was always a little sad to detach like this, but the position had been awkward and would've resulted in aching muscles after a little longer. And besides, all three were now tired and well satisfied.

Cloud was so small and curled up in his peaceful slumber that Zack and Sephiroth could easily kiss and touch each other with him between. Just as Cloud was snuggled against Sephiroth's chest, Zack lay his forehead on the general's shoulder and sighed as a firm hand pet his hair.

"Seph?"

"Yes?" he prompted, placing a kiss on the disheveled spikes.

"I think I've learned something. Let me give it a try."

"Proceed."

"Cause - I promise to tell you if someone hurts me and I can't handle them on my own. Effect - you trust me to do so from now on."

Sephiroth smiled, unable to help it. "Very well. I will try."

"Mmm." Zack lifted his head and opened his mouth for Sephiroth's tongue, running his hand tenderly down Cloud's arm. "This is how it was always supposed to be."

Sephiroth pulled them both closer, gently so as not to disturb the blond. "This is how it always _will_ be."

_Okay, now back to the how-they-got-together arc. I'll try not to get distracted. :) As always, I love hearing what you think._


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